Sunday, 19 July 2015

GOOD, BAD AND UGLY OF A CV: 6 THINGS YOU HAVE TO GET RIGHT BEFORE SENDING OUT YOUR CV

When was the last time hat you looked at your CV?

Do you update it regularly? If your company went
bankrupt tomorrow, could you just start sending your resume out
straight away?

For me, keeping my CV neat and up to date is all
about reminding myself what I am good at, what I achieved and what
should I do next. It's nice to have something that shows me how I got
to where I am now. For some of my clients CV is something that they
dislike – it reminds them that they were laid off or that they are
stuck in a job that sucks. But how else can you change something
about your job if not starting with your CV?

How to make your CV really amazing?

1. EDIT YOUR PERSONAL/CONTACT DETAILS:

You want to mention:

- your name in BIG, bold letters

- city where you live (because no one is
interested in your postal address and it takes way too much space
anyway)

- your phone number (please include your city
or country code if you are applying to an international company – I
still remember one situation, where I recruited for the same post in
3 different cities and I had to guess which prefix should I use,
because some candidates didn't include their location or full phone
number)

- your email address (if your email looks
anything like this: xxx_lover@sweetness.com no recruiter will
EVER get back to you – keep it simple and professional, get a new
email if necessary)

- consider including your LinkedIn profile link (I
used to love clicking through them at work and majority of people I
hired were on LinkedIn)

2. SUMMARY/OBJECTIVE/PROFILE:

Incude a short statement about which job you are
applying for and what makes you a good candidate. Remember, this is
not a place for your complete life story, it just has to tell the
recruiter the most importanant things of you as a candidate. The
summary should have 3 - 4 lines and it should focus on
your skills and experiences and how will they help you in doing a
good job in the position that you want to have.

3. WORK EXPERIENCE:

This section depends on how much work experience
do you have. If you are just starting your career and have 1 or 2
things to put here, then try and focus on duties and responsibilities
that you had in each job. List 5 – 6 things that you did and learn
while being employed.

If you have quite a few years of experience only
include the posts that have anything to do with the role that you are
applying for (because no one will ask you about an internship
that you had 10 years ago) and try to list 3 – 4
responsibilities and achievements for every role. Don't worry if it
takes you 2 or 3 pages to fit everything. It's not physically
possible to squeeze 15 years of a successful career on one page. Also
– remember that the most recent jobs should be at the top of this
section.

4. EDUCATION/COURSES:

If you finished any university, training or
professional qualification it should be listed here. You don't have
to put specific dates – writing down a year when you graduated is
more than enough. If only education/qualification you have is
elementary school or high school you can skip this section entirely
and it's perfectly fine.

5. SKILLS:

This is the most important part of your CV.
Here you should have a solid list of all the great things that you
learnt and all the character traits that you have.

The best approach is to divide your skills
into 2 or 3 categories: language skills, soft skills, IT skills,
practical skills, accounting skills, programming skills, art/design
skills... You can pick and choose, but make sure that you have a few
key categories listed. When you decide on what categories you wish to
include, sit down and go through your day-to-day work routine and
think about one thing:

What kind of tasks do you have and what skills
do they require?

For example, while mailing back and forth
customers and updating them about a project you show great
communication skills, organisation and customer service skills. If
you have to prepare paperwork for your boss every week, you are
probably great at reporting. Write down at least 15 – 20 skills and
then mark what you enjoy doing most, it will be good to put those
skills first in suitable categories.

6. YOUR INTERESTS:

Because, surprisingly, they can be very
important. Do you love traveling? Maybe there is a position open that
requires your skills and a lot of flying. Are you into languages?
Maybe you would like to take care of international customers?

Sometimes what you are interested in can open
possibilities for you – it is not a rule, but it's definitely
exciting to think so.

OK... How does your CV look like now? Do you feel
like you did a great job and that you are a super skilled and
talented person? I do hope so!